VW doesn't come off good in JD Power Survey

i have an old 1987 fox... and my friends all have old vws (before 92) ...they are all great cars. The new ones, are total junk. No matter what survey you look at, they come out looking wrose and worse. Its funny, becasue people are always selling them (new ones). usually a brand new car doesnt go up for sale 6 months after buying.

Its sad, i used to love VW's, now i cant buy a new one without buying something with a check engine light that comes on once a week :(

So i am now shopping for a subaru impreza.

Which survey is this? JD Power does a bunch of them, and all the numbers, especially the best 5, look pretty high for their Initial Quality Survey. In any case, you have to take these surveys with a grain of salt since a loose trim piece counts the same as the engine falling out.

The top 5 in the 2003 JD Power Initial Quality Survey were (with problems per 100 cars):

Lexus - 76 Cadillac - 103 Infiniti - 110 Acura - 111 Buick - 112

The industry average was 133 problems per 100 cars. VW had

143 problems per 100 cars and was rated above GMC, Suzuki, Jeep, Subaru, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Saturn, Saab, Mini, Kia, Land Rover, and Hummer.

Todd Kuzma

I think this is the 3 year survey, I recognize those numbers from the newspaper..... of course we all know those numbers are off, Mercedes buyers will complain about the slightest problem, whereas guys might not care if their cover for the glovebox is aligned down to a 0.01mm tolerance all the way around :-)... 3 years ago VW had all those coil/MAF/EGR/window regulator problems, and all of these were resolved by VW apparantly....

143 problems per 100 vehicles. That is not too bad, I mean Lexus, Acura, Infinity - they are all nuts about final assembly quality in Japan, they probably go over each car with a fine toothed comb... .not a problem when your car isn't selling close to what? a million units a year + for the Jetta/Golf, plus hundreds of thousands of Passats.... Caddy and Buick, this is because GM is going insane being bashed by auto reviewers and buicks and caddys are built in their least problematic factories.

Aren't these statistics North America only.... I wonder how VW AG is doing in Germany, or how about VW of UK.

Looking at Consumer Reports, All VWs have an abismal repair record except the Passat, which is quite good. There was no data on the Eurovan. The Jetta was the absolute worst in the VW linup.

Seems they could do better.

Dave wrote:

My experience with VW goes back to my brand new 78 Rabbit Diesel. I've had at least one Jetta from each body style. By far the worst VW I've owned was my 92 Jetta TD, which was as unreliable a POS as I've ever encountered. In 4 years it left me stranded (had to be towed) more than all of the other VWs I've owned in that 25 year period combined.

I've had 3 leased A4 Jetta TDIs. I had the "relay 109" problem on the first TDI (very early production), but it only caused me to stall out for a couple minutes. The only other problems with the A4s have been glove box doors (a problem on the 99s that is fixed in later years) and similar interior faults. All covered under warranty. None caused me any grief or left me stranded. Purely cosmetic.

There were PLENTY of TERRIBLE quality older VWs out there too. Been there, still have the memories of aborted family trips and sitting stranded in the middle nowhere waiting for a tow truck.

My $.02:

I had a 86 Golf Diesel. Never had 1 problem that wasn't related to wear and tear. Literally! It was a stellar car that lasted 330K miles before I sold her!

I have a 98 Jetta TDI. It's a fine car except for... The alarm goes off for no reason on cold nights. The seat makes a funny noise when I accel/brake. The ignition switch is faulty on hot days. And I could list at least 10 more things that should *never* happen during the life of the car.

Somewhere between 1986 and 1998, VW dropped the ball.

JJS

Huh, and my wife and I just put on order a 2004 Jetta TDI. To be honest, I have no worries.

What kind of "problems" are problems? Is a major problem like Ford Focus wheels falling off counted on the same level problem as when the glove box door broke on a Jetta?

Was it Powers or some other company that reported that Humvy owners were disappointed with their gas mileage? Duhhhhh!

Was VW downrated because of the coil problem or other things?

The coil issue was not well handled by VW, but it doesn't mean anything about whether VWs are or are not well made otherwise.

So far (3800 mi.), my 2003 Passat wagon hasn't had any problems, while my friend's 2003 Passat sedan had a major steering problem at less than 1000 miles. [She was eventually given a totally new 2003 Passat.] Something like the steering problem gives me concern; the coils do not.

This survey covered the 2000 model year. Window regulator problems spanned a few years including 2000, 2001 & 2002. The Coil Pack issue was mainly a 2002 and very early 2003 model year problem. Since the JD Powers survey being discussed here is for 2000 models one has to believe that the three year surveys for 2001 and 2002 (window regulator and coil packs) means VW survey standings are not likely to improve and could possibly get worse.

Time will tell.

Charlie

VW did buy cars back for coils early on.